GST return is an official document that furnishes all the purchases, sales, tax paid on purchases, and tax collected on sales-related details. The GST returns is required to be filed, following which the taxpayer has to pay off the tax liability.
Fundamentally, GST Return or GSTR is a document that has to be filed by the taxpayers with the concerned tax administrative authority.

GST RETURNS FILING
A GST Return Filing is a return document that contains details of the income of the taxpayer. It has to be filed with the GST administrative authority. The document is used tax authorities to calculate the tax liability of a GST taxpayer. A GST Return Filing form has to include the following details.
• Output GST (On sales)
• Sales
• Input tax credit (GST paid on purchases)
• Purchases

WHO NEEDS TO FILE GSTR?
GST returns must be filed by every business unit whose turnover exceeds 20 or 40 lakhs (Optional) annually. Taxpayers are also supposed to go through various eligibility criteria for different slabs.
Tax Payers category for GST Return filing:
• Regular Taxpayers
• Composition Taxpayers
• Non-resident Taxpayer
• Input Service Distributor
• Tax Deduction at Source
• Tax Collected at Source (E-commerce Operators)
• Final Return (In Case of Cancellation of Business Registration)
• Unique Identification Number Holders

WHAT ARE THE GST SLAB RATES?
• Items that are considered basic necessities come under exempt list i.e., they are not taxed.
• Household necessities and life-saving drugs etc. are taxed at 5%.
• Products like computers and processed food are taxed at 12%.
• Hair oil, toothpaste and soaps, capital goods, industrial intermediaries and services are taxed at 18%.
• Luxury items are taxed at 28%.

TYPES OF GST RETURNS UNDER NEW GST LAW
The list of all types of GST returns in India along with frequency and the due date for filing returns.
RETURN FORM FREQUENCY DUE DATE FOR FILING
GSTR-1 Monthly 11th of the subsequent month
GSTR-2 Monthly 15th of the subsequent month
GSTR-3 Monthly 20th of the subsequent month
GSTR-4 Quarterly 18th of the month succeeding quarter
GSTR-5 Monthly 20th of the subsequent month
GSTR-6 Monthly 13th of the subsequent month
GSTR-7 Monthly 10th of the subsequent month
GSTR-8 Monthly 10th of the subsequent month
GSTR-9 Annually 31st December of the next Fiscal year
GSTR-10 Once after the registration of GST is cancelled Within 3 months of date of cancellation or date of cancellation order, whichever is later.
GSTR-11 Monthly 28th of the month, following the month for which the statement was filed.

HOW TO FILE GST RETURNS WITH GSTN?
The Goods and Service Tax Network will store information of all GST registered sellers and buyers, combine the submitted details, and maintain registers for future reference. Companies have to file 3 monthly returns every 3 months and one annual return in a financial year (37 returns in total). GSTN has launched a simple excel based template to make the filing of returns easier for businesses. This excel workbook can be downloaded from the GST common portal free of charge. Taxpayers can use this template to collate invoice data regularly. The details of inward and outward supplies can be uploaded on the GST portal on or before the due date. The data preparation can be done offline. Only while uploading the prepared file on the GST portal will the taxpayer need the Internet.
STEP BY STEP TO FILE THE GST RETURN ONLINE ARE AS FOLLOWS:

HOW TO CHECK GST RETURNS STATUS?
The official GST Login Portal allows you to check the status of your GST Returns. There are 3 different methods for the same. The methods are as follows:
• Tracking the status using the ‘Return Filing Period’ option
• Tracking the status using the ‘ARN’ option
• Tracking the status using the ‘Status’ option

LATE FEES FOR NOT FILING GST RETURN ON TIME
When the GST returns are not filed on time by the taxpayers, a late fee along with interest is imposed on him.
Late Fees for Annual Return Filing
• INR 200 / day (INR 100 under CGST, SGST and IGST (if relevant) each).
• The maximum amount of late fee cannot be more than 0.25% of the taxpayer’s turnover in the state.
Late fee for Monthly/Quarterly GST Return Filing
• INR 50/ day (INR 25 under CGST + Rs. 25 under SGST)
• The maximum amount of late fee cannot be more than INR 5,000.
• No late fee applicable on IGST

Interest Applicable on Defaulter
• Interest @ 18% is applicable on the defaulter.
• Interest is computed by the taxpayer on the amount of tax due for the payment.
• Interest is computed for the period from the day just after the due date of return filing to the date when tax is paid.